Naples, Campania
Heart-shaped margherita
This kid is all heart.
Makes
2
Level
Medium with a grown-up
Kids cook with a grown-up. Hot ovens, boiling water and frying are grown-up jobs, and sharp knives need a grown-up’s hands too.
Bella’s job
Bella lifts the dough, drops torn mozzarella on the sauce and slides the pizza toward the oven with Dad.
Ingredients
Pizza dough: one 8 oz ball, our Roman dough, at room temperature
Crushed San Marzano tomatoes: 1/2 cup
Olive oil: 1 teaspoon
Salt: a pinch
Fresh mozzarella: 4 oz, torn into small pieces
Fresh basil: 4 or 5 leaves
Semolina or flour: 2 tablespoons, for the board and peel
Method
Heat a pizza oven to about 800°F. In a home oven, heat a baking steel at the highest setting, 500°F or hotter, for 45 minutes.
Dust the board with semolina. Let the dough ball stretch as you lift it, then lay it down.
Press and stretch the dough into a round with your hands. Pinch a dip into the top edge and curve the sides to make a heart.
Stir the olive oil and salt into the tomatoes. Ladle a thin layer of sauce over the dough and leave a small rim.
Tear the mozzarella and scatter it over the sauce. Bella likes a lot of cheese.
Slide the pizza onto a floured peel. A grown-up puts it in the hot oven.
Bake 90 seconds in a pizza oven, turning once, until puffed and spotted. In a home oven it takes 6 to 8 minutes.
A grown-up takes the pizza out. Tear the basil on top and cut it with kitchen scissors.
